Costa Mesa hopes mysterious walkway doesn't lead to fine

Oct. 4, 2013

Updated Oct. 7, 2013 10:59 a.m.

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The sign marking the sensitive vernal pool area in Fairview Park has seen better days. Last June, a decomposed granite path was laid in the park, partially covering one of the vernal pools, home to the endangered San Diego fairy shrimp. FRED MATAMOROS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A decomposed granite path was laid in Fairview Park near Estancia High School sometime in June. The path infringes on the habitat of the endangered San Diego fairy shrimp, and the city has asked for advice from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on how to rectify the situation. FRED MATAMOROS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Yellow flags mark the now-dormant vernal pools in Fairview Park. The pools are the habitat of the endangered San Diego fairy shrimp. FRED MATAMOROS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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This undated photo released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a Northern California vernal pool fairy shrimp. AP

The sign marking the sensitive vernal pool area in Fairview Park has seen better days. Last June, a decomposed granite path was laid in the park, partially covering one of the vernal pools, home to the endangered San Diego fairy shrimp.FRED MATAMOROS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Fairy shrimp

The San Diego fairy shrimp is one of several species of fairy shrimp considered endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It's native to Southern California. The translucent creatures range from eight to 16 millimeters long, large enough to see without a microscope but small enough to fit on the tip of a finger. For most of the year, the shrimp's eggs, about the size of a grain of sand, lie dormant in the topsoil. During rainy months, the eggs hatch three to eight days after they're hydrated and the shrimp mature, reproduce and die – all within about a month.

Source: University of San Diego.

What are vernal pools?

Vernal pools are seasonal ponds. They're temporary and develop during the rainy season, such as January and February, when water first saturates the soil, then collects in depressed areas with subsequent rains. What makes them special is that they're typically lined with some type of clay, which allows them to hold water and thereby a variety of plants and animals different from the surrounding area, said Ingri Quon, a biologist hired by Costa Mesa to look into options to protect the vernal pools in Fairview Park.

Often, those species are endangered, such as the San Diego fairy shrimp that live in Fairview Park's vernal pools. The pools also attract ducks, sandpipers, dragonflies, frogs, toads and bats.

Vernal pools can form in road ruts, too, though those aren't as "high quality" as the pools that form on undisturbed land, Quon said.

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COSTA MESA – It all comes down to a little yellow flag.

The plastic flag, planted in the middle of a decomposed granite path in Costa Mesa's Fairview Park, marks the habitat of the endangered San Diego fairy shrimp. The shrimp's eggs, now lying dormant in the topsoil under the path, are tiny, about the size of a grain of sand. Yet they are having a big effect.

City officials are guessing that someone laid the unauthorized path in June. It runs along the city park side of a chain-link fence separating Fairview Park from Estancia High School, Waldorf School of Orange County and Parsons Field.

At first, the city blocked the path with ropes to protect the vernal pools, currently dry, where the shrimp eggs lie. Just as quickly, someone cut the ropes. The city hired two biologists to mark the vernal pools with flags.

The city is now asking for advice from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on how to proceed, and hoping not to be fined in the meantime.

A citizen group, Friends of Fairview Nature Park, is offering a $500 reward to learn who created the path.

The site is now akin to a crime scene, marked off with police “Do Not Cross” tape.

And so far, there is no culprit. But rumors have been circulating about who laid the granite.

Was it a sports booster club that uses Parsons Field? The path links a Fairview Park parking lot off Placentia Avenue to Parsons Field, or at least it did when a new gate, also unauthorized, was installed in the fence between the park and sports field.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District owns the fence and the field, but groups such as Pop Warner youth football and Back Bay Youth Rugby use the field.

Several months ago over a weekend, someone installed the gate, said Tim Marsh, administrative director of facilities support services for the school district. The school district welded it shut.

Was it someone with cash? The L-shaped path is about 10 feet wide and more than 6,000 square feet. The granite isn't all that special. It can be bought at a place like Home Depot, where a 1,000-pound bag costs $35. That puts the cost somewhere between $5,000 and $6,000 for a 1-inch-thick path.

Was it someone with city connections? To lay the granite from a truck or truck-size piece of equipment would require opening a city gate at the end of Canyon Drive.

The gate has a combination lock and a limited number of people in the city have the combination, such as fire and police department staff and parks and maintenance workers, said Bart Mejia, an engineer with the city.

Was the granite delivered in a full-size truck, or a smaller vehicle that could have squeezed between barriers without the locked city gates being open?

Brian Burnett, with Friends of Fairview Nature Park, said the park is one of the last remaining areas in the city with vernal pools, whereas the pools were once ubiquitous on the flat landscape.

“When I first saw (the path) or heard about it, I thought, ‘It's only 400 feet or so. What's the big deal?'” Burnett said. “But the big deal is that it's federally protected habitat. … It's the difference between having chicken for dinner and having bald eagle for dinner.”

Ingri Quon was one of two biologists the city hired from the firm LSA Associates to assess the vernal pools and the impact of the granite path over Vernal Pool 6.

“It basically smothers the plants and animals that are under it,” Quon said of the granite layer. That includes the fairy shrimp, “the poster child of vernal pools.”

Now that the path is in place, the city has to undo its effect. That could mean marking the compromised vernal pool with a cable but leaving the granite in place – not the best option, the biologists said.

Or the city could remove the granite and restore the pool – but that might not be enough. The city could move the pool altogether by transplanting the topsoil laden with shrimp eggs and seeds specific to vernal pool plants. That step would require a federally approved mitigation plan and a biologist to supervise.

The decision might be out of the city's hands now. City administrators have asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for an opinion on the best way to go.

Public Services Director Ernesto Munoz said the city already was in the midst of a plan to border the vernal pools in the area with durable cable when the granite path required more immediate steps.

“We don't want anyone going in there now until (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife gives their opinion on what can be done to restore that vernal pool,” Munoz said.

Hopefully, that won't result in a fine for the city from the federal agency, he said.

“They haven't said anything about (a fine) so far,” Munoz said. “We would hope that first they would give us opportunity to mitigate any concerns.”

Councilman Steve Mensinger, who is active with local sports groups and a council liaison for the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee, said the controversy surrounding the trail is “purely political for a group of people who don't like what's happening in Fairview Park.”

Mensinger said he did ask the city to mow the area of the path, since it's long been a path used by kids going to the sports field and school.

But as to whether he knows who put in the decomposed granite, Mensinger said, “It's well-known in the city that volunteers were involved in this.”

“People are just trying to make something out of something for politics,” he said. “But I'm not going to give a bunch of political partisans credence that (volunteers) broke the law knowingly.”

In the meantime, the city might have a difficult time blocking people from the path.

“A lot of people are upset about us roping those areas,” Munoz said. “But again, we have to make sure all the resources out here are fully protected.”

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